


The Queen's Kiss

by dragonflyMerri



Category: Merlin (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-23
Updated: 2012-03-23
Packaged: 2017-11-02 10:24:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/367938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonflyMerri/pseuds/dragonflyMerri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life as a newly-wed is a happy existence for Arthur. That is until he finds out that Merlin actually kissed Gwen long before Arthur ever did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Queen's Kiss

Merlin hummed tunelessly as he made his way around Arthur’s chamber, tidying and dusting. Things had certainly improved since Arthur had married Gwen. For one, he no longer left his clothes lying around wherever he happened to drop them – Gwen had put a stop to that and, miracle of miracles, had actually trained/forced Arthur to put his clothes away, either in one pile of dirty laundry or hung back up in the wardrobe.

Merlin glanced over to where Arthur was sitting at his desk. He was supposed to be reading and signing off on reports. Instead, Arthur was staring off into space, a dreamy smile on his face.  
Merlin chuckled to himself at the besotted look on Arthur’s face.

“What are you snickering about Merlin?” Arthur looked a tad embarrassed at being caught out.

“Hmmm? Oh nothing at all.” Merlin answered with a grin. “It’s just good to see you…um…happy.”

“Happy? Well, yes, I suppose I am.” Arthur stretched in contentment, then settled down further into his chair. “Happiness is a good thing, Merlin. Marriage is a good thing, I highly recommend it.”

“Good to know.”

“I think everyone should be this happy – even you Merlin.”

“I am happy.”

“Yes, but you’re not married happy. It’s different you know.”

“I wouldn’t know actually, and I’m not really in the market for a marriage.”

“Gwen’s a great wife.” Arthur got the dreamy look back on his face as he totally ignored Merlin. “She’s just so…. calming and caring and gentle. She takes good care of me, watches over me, makes sure I do the right thing. And she’s lovely, isn’t she Merlin?”

“Yes, I’ve always thought so.”

“She’s beautiful. She has the most beautiful eyes, the softest skin, the loveliest lips. I love kissing those lips. Gwen gives the most marvelous kisses.”

“Yeah, she does.” Merlin replied softly, lost in remembrance.

“She certainly… wait – what?” Arthur abruptly came out of his rapture to stare at his manservant.

“What?” Merlin looked back at him wide-eyed.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing – I was just agreeing with you.”

“About Gwen’s kiss – you were agreeing with me about Gwen’s kiss?”

“What? No, no, I was just…. um… agreeing with the sentiment.”

“I said Gwen was a great kisser and you agreed.”

“Do you want me to disagree?”

“What? No, I don’t want you to…Merlin, I was talking about my wife’s kisses!”

“And I was agreeing with you!”

“Why would you agree? What do you know about Gwen’s kisses?”

“What, me? Nothing….just, you know, you’re always going on about kissing Gwen and how much you like it and….

“And you agree?”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“What do you know about it?”

“What? About kissing? I’ll have you know that I’ve kissed my fair share of….”

“I’m not talking about kissing in general, I’m talking about kissing Gwen! Why would you agree with me about the quality of Gwen’s kisses?”

“I never said anything about the quality of Gwen’s kisses!”

“Why would you?…I said something about the quality of Gwen’s kisses!”

“Well, there you go then.”

“There I go – what?”

“There you go….um….kissing Gwen!”

The two men looked at each other in confusion.

“Merlin – what the hell are you going on about?”

“How should I know – you’re the one carrying on!” Merlin was looking distinctly frazzled and giving Arthur that expression he used that generally meant he thought Arthur was acting like a complete arse.

The door to the chamber opened and Gwen came in, smiling for her husband. But she quickly lost her smile when she saw Arthur and Merlin glaring at each other with a general air of confusion.

“Oh Arthur, what have you done to Merlin now?” she asked, walking across the room to deposit the load of laundry she was carrying into her cupboard.

“Why would you assume I did anything to Merlin? Why couldn’t it be that Merlin did someth…. Wait, why are you carrying laundry?”

“I’m putting it away. And I generally find that it’s usually you who does something to get Merlin all confused. Hello Merlin, how are you today?” Gwen ignored Arthur and turned a beaming smile on Merlin.

“Hi Gwen, I’m fine thank you.” Merlin beamed back at her.

“It’s Your Majesty now, Merlin, or M’lady” Arthur corrected. “Gwen’s the queen now, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“Oh Arthur, don’t be such an ass.” Gwen and Merlin said simultaneously – then giggled at each other.

“What the…for crying out loud Gwen, don’t you go encouraging him, he’s bad enough on his own! And why are you carrying laundry?”

“I’m not encouraging him. Merlin is my friend and I’ll not be putting on airs in front of him and having him call me majesty or m’lady. He’s Merlin, and I’m Gwen, you might as well get used to it, Arthur. And I’m putting away my own laundry – my underthings and smalls.”

“Gwen, Merlin is my manservant, and by extension, yours. Even if he won’t give you the due respect you’re now entitled to, he should at least be doing your chores – like putting away the laundry.

“I do give Gwen her due respect!”

“I will not have Merlin be my servant!”

Arthur was faced with twin expressions of outrage.

“Fine, whatever. But part of Merlin’s duties are to take care of the clothes. The least he could do is put away your laundry.”

“Arthur, I am not having Merlin manhandle my undergarments and smalls.”

“Oh my god – I am not touching Gwen’s smalls!!”

“For gods sake, I’m not asking Merlin to manhandle your smalls, just put the damn laundry away! He puts my smalls away, what the hell’s the difference if he does yours too?”

“Well, Arthur, if you have to ask…”

“Shut up Merlin…”

“Arthur Pendragon! I have been taking care of myself since I was a small child. Just because you don’t have the courtesy or good common sense to put your own clothes away, does not mean that I am going to have my friend do something so simple as putting away mine!

“Hear, hear…”

“Shut UP Merlin!!”

“She’s got a point though. It wouldn’t kill you to pick up after yourself once in a while, although Gwen, you’re doing a lovely job of training him – I only had to pick up one shirt and his socks today.”

“Why thank you Merlin, it’s a struggle, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

Merlin nodded in agreement.

“For gods sake, will you two stop agreeing with each other all the time. Honestly, it’s like having two wives sometimes, both of you nagging after me…”

“Oh Arthur, you don’t want to be saying that…” Merlin jumped in before he could finish.

“What exactly do you mean – nagging?” Gwen narrowed her eyes and glared at Arthur.

“Nothing! I meant nothing.” Arthur was a wise king if not a wise man, he knew when a strategic retreat was called for. “I just meant to say, that sometimes, it would be nice if one of you…either one of you….was on my side occasionally, during an argument.”

“Arthur, I’m always by your side…except when you’re wrong.” Merlin protested.

“Arthur, we do not gang up on you. Just sometimes, we both happen to be right and you happen to be wrong.” Gwen clarified.

Arthur sat back down and dropped his head into his hands, fingers scrubbing at his hair. “I don’t even know what we’re talking about anymore,” he said mournfully and a little lost.

“Gwen’s smalls” Merlin piped up helpfully.

“Oh Merlin, let’s just leave that alone shall we? Why don’t you go back to arguing about whatever it was you were arguing about when I came in?”

“You’re kisses, actually,” Merlin said absently, then immediately regretted it.

“You were arguing about my kisses?”

“Well, Arthur was rhapsodizing on about how good your kisses were..”

“And you agreed with me Merlin.” Arthur reared up, suddenly remembering the previous disagreement. “And you never explained your agreement, did you?”

As Merlin floundered, Gwen tutted and flapped a hand around vaguely. “Oh Arthur please. It was one kiss and a long time ago.”

“Gwen NO!!” Merlin gasped in horror.

“Wha…you…him…you…” Arthur sputtered, eyes wide in growing disbelief. “You kissed him?”

“But…I thought you knew…isn’t that why you were arguing?” Gwen turned a fierce gaze on Merlin.

“I never said anything – honest!”

Arthur leaped to his feet “You never said anything? You never said anything! You kissed my wife and you never said anything??!!”

“I did not kiss your wife! She wasn’t your wife at the time! And anyway, I didn’t kiss her – she kissed me.”

“It’s true Arthur, I kissed him. And it was a long time ago, so you have no reason to be upset.” Gwen sought to sooth him down.

Arthur glared at his wife. “And why, pray tell, would you be kissing my manservant?” His voice was icy with distain.

“I did not kiss your manservant. I kissed Merlin. And only because I thought he was dead. But he wasn’t. So I kissed him.”

“You kissed him because you thought he was dead? Why would you kiss a dead Merlin?”

“Well he wasn’t dead when I kissed him – good grief Arthur, really! I just thought he was dead, but he wasn’t.”

Arthur turned to Merlin. “So what? You were playing at being dead so Gwen would kiss you?”

“What? No! I was really dead. But then I came back to life and Gwen was kissing me. I actually had nothing to do with it really, but it was a lovely way to come back to life.”

“Why thank you Merlin. You always say such lovely things.” Gwen smiled at Merlin, who beamed back at her.

“Hang on – when were you dead? And if you were dead, what are you doing alive right now?”

“The mortius flower Arthur…when I was poisoned and you went and found the flower. I actually died, but thankfully Gaius had made the remedy in time and I lived. It had nothing to do with Gwen’s kiss.”

“The mortius flower? So…I risked life and limb, travelled miles and miles, got attacked by giant spiders and a crazy witch to find the flower to make the remedy, got thrown in the dungeons for my efforts…and you kissed Merlin?”

“Well he was dead Arthur, and then he came back to life. I really think, under the circumstances, that a kiss was fully justified.”

“Fully justified,” Merlin nodded in agreement. “And a lovely kiss it was,” he added helpfully.

Arthur glared at him then turned his glare on Gwen. “And how many other kisses have there been between you two?”

“Oh just the one. Merlin’s only died the one time.”

“So…if he were to die again….say…if he was…oh, I don’t know…dispatched by his king for instance….”

“What?? Why would you want to dispatch me?”

“Arthur Pendragon!! You will do no such thing! It was one kiss – ONE. And there have been no further kisses since then, have there Merlin?”

“No, no more kisses. Just the one.”

“So I’ll hear no more talk about you dispatching poor Merlin, just because he happened to die the one time and got a well deserved kiss.”

Gwen moved in next to Arthur and wrapped her arms around his waist. “From now on Arthur, all my kisses are just for you.” She reached up and softly kissed his lips. “Just you Arthur…all….my…kisses…” Gwen punctuated each word with another kiss.

Arthur’s arms wound around his wife and he leaned in to deepen the kisses.

Merlin took that as his cue to leave and quietly tiptoed to the door. Just before leaving, he looked back at the couple and was surprised to see Gwen looking back at him, even as she kissed Arthur. She gave him a quick wink before closing her eyes and losing herself in the kiss.

Merlin grinned and softly closed the door behind him. Lucky Arthur, thought Merlin. Gwen really did give very good kisses.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] The Queen's Kiss](https://archiveofourown.org/works/552448) by [Hananobira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hananobira/pseuds/Hananobira)




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